Riro to Sutetchi
by UniformEstrangement
Summary: Was anyone else upset with the Stitch anime? Interested in a story that incorporates Lilo into the plot? Sounds great right!  The only downside could be that Yuna is still in it...
1. Preface

Some Context: This story is essentially the Stitch! anime with Lilo written into it and some changes made where I saw necessary. This is written in a way that matches up enough to the actual anime so if you're curious about the actual contents of the anime but don't want to watch it you'll get the general idea of it since some of the dialogue is taken directly from the show itself.

I'd like to write a cool disclaimer, but unfortunately having to make a disclaimer for something posted on a site for fan fiction is a pretty laughable prospect.

Disclaimer: Satisfaction of this fan fiction is not guaranteed. If you read this with the intention of having it as a substitute for watching the actual anime, I recommend you don't since I changed a lot of major points. There are summaries elsewhere on the internet the sums up what's wrong with it quite nicely. Even though I consider this version to be better (I mean the anime does nicely for a stupid kid's show I guess…) it is not above having plot holes and inconsistencies if you see any besides the obvious ones like Lilo and Stitch snapping and running away from home then please tell me.

Thank You, and enjoy the Prologue.

Information:

I, like most people who adored Lilo & Stitch growing up, was very distraught (for lack of a better word) when I discovered the Stitch! anime (but hot damn is the japanese opening theme infuriatingly catchy "ali~en!"). Being the… uh, type of person that I am (A jerk? Genius? Guy who can't leave well enough alone?) I decided that I wanted to rewrite the whole thing in my image.

Rewriting the Stitch anime to include Lilo in it was an epically great idea to start with it but my mission had one terrible downside. I was the one who was going to write (right?) it.

Now before you start going and bashing my blatant self-demotion, I do consider this a fair downside. The way I intend on writing this is quite different than the one people would expect and probably enjoy more. For starters, if you read the summary then you've read that Yuna plays a rather central role in this version still. I'm aware that most people generally dislike Yuna so when I decided I wanted to share this story this prospect hindered me.

I believe all characters have the right to development.(Except for the Yokai, because we all agree they did not belong in a story about genetically mutated aliens and the reforming abilities of familial love. I love Yokai and Japanese Mythology and all but I feel a sci-fi story like thistle one I want doesn't really have the pacing suited for the type of Yokai shown in the anime.) Sure, the anime is funny, silly, very "kid-friendly" to measures which are easily mocked but that's just not how I write.

I could definitely have written out Yuna. I could make this an anime-style fan-fiction about Lilo growing up and taking Stitch to college with her when she studies abroad in Japan. Everything would make sense, but…

I felt sorry for the character of Yuna. I really do, I can't help how I feel people! Yuna is a character with a complex backstory (for the type of show that anime is anyway), a personality with potential and I feel if she had been in a kid-show independent of the Lilo & Stitch franchise it could be great. A show about a little girl alone on an island making friends with spirits and Yokai, learning to deal with her childish problems in ridiculous ways, a standard plot, and in Japan it might've been a success. (Don't roll your eyes at me hypothetical readers!)

This is why I want to redeem Yuna - **she doesn't belong in the world her writers put her in**. I feel that's a tragedy right there. I wish I could write some sort of "Yuna, Izayoi & The Spiritual Stone" or something with her completely independent of Stitch and the aliens.

But I can't because I want that to be for kids and I can't write something meant for kids even if I was given a million bucks to do it (I mean I could but it wouldn't be good).

The point is people only hate her because she's out of place in the world she was written into. She's not inherently a bad character, she just doesn't belong in her setting, she's out of place (just like me) and doesn't fit quite right with the franchise she was designed for. (I pity her, I identify with her problem, and I am going to take pity on her character and attempt to make it better for personal reasons.)

Am I done having to defend my poor-choice to include Yuna in the story? Great, moving on to defending my extremely poor choice of keeping the bit about Lilo & Stitch running away from home. Officially, the story is that they got sick of being outcasts on Earth one day and having been exposed to the rich diverse culture of the galaxy they one day snuck out to explore but never stopped running.

This is so out-of-character for them, it's not even funny. The characters in-universe are aware of it, all of them except Lilo and Stitch have utterly no clue how this really happened and why. Lilo and Stitch, the poster children and primary advocates for the "Ohana" theme running away from home and their beloved family? What the hell is this nonsense?

I intend to abuse this plot-point whenever possible for thematic purposes. I'm working on a rational in-universe explanation, but it's not easy. I really only did it at the time because it was an easy way to get them to Izayoi. I admit it's sloppy writing, but hey, I'm going to improve it! (Maybe)

Uh… overlook this one problem and I promise the rest is better? Sort of…

Feh, whatever, you win some and you lose some. Every story has good points and bad points - this is a bloody fan fiction it doesn't have to be perfect! (Or even be taken this seriously at all, ever)

It's great practice for any real novels I intend on writing though - *squeals like school-girl!* - anyway without further ado I'll explain how Hamsterviel is reformed but still the villain!

Basically, I was inspired by the fan-fiction "Gantu's Assignment" by Joshua-Sinclair. Except in this version Reuben and Hämsterviel, and everyone in the Armada is aware of this "assignment" - Lilo and Stitch as well as Jumba and Pleakley are not. However, the experiments are and the reason for this will become clear eventually. Unlike why L&S ran away and why Yuna is in the story, the story actually explains this itself so we're good to go.

If possible: Sit back, relax, and enjoy a fan fiction about a disappointing anime remade into a story that gives a terrible character a second chance and doesn't treat the experiments as some "monster of the week" to be captured then tamed but as people and extensions of the main character's family.


	2. A Change in Scenery

The bright red space scooter whisked around and around the tunnel. It just kept doing that for a while, simply because the kids who were in it were bored beyond belief.

"Is it weird that I want the cops to chase us again?" A bipedal primate -descended carbon based extraterrestrial life -form asked the blue illegal genetic experiment who was in the driver's seat. She was wearing a red jumpsuit with white palm fronds printed on it and her long dark hair whipped around her as the wind whistled by her face.

"Naga, Stitch bored too." The experiment's ears twitched and a plastic look of pure apathy was the only thing able to be seen on his face. It matched the female earthling's facial expression perfectly. "Should we?" He asked lazily.

"I don't know. I'm too bored to decide."

"Ih." He shrugged and stopped the car in the middle of it's cycle causing them to crash back down to the floor from the dead center top. Neither of the two adolescent aliens moved for a while. "High speed chase now?"

"Yep." She replied as he righted the vehicle and sped off out of the planet they were resting on.

On a distant space station, gleaming in the multiple light rays of many stars and other emitters, there stood the ruler of the galaxy. Of course since the Galactic Federation was a federation she didn't exactly do it alone, but her influence was certainly undeniable and incredibly vast. She was the woman in charge, and nobody could object to it. She deserved honor and respect and to know her personally was a great achievement. An achievement and reward earned by the Captain of the Galactic Armada, the Federation's first defense against internal threats. The man wearing the captain's uniform strolled in through the mighty ruler's door, a yellow experiment was dwarfed next to him.

"You eminence," He bowed and the alien next to him bowed next to him seeming to be caught off guard by the gesture and was definitely not accustomed to the environment. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, Captain Gantu." She nodded in greeting and then remembered the smaller furry yellow creature beside him, she tried to make her tone a bit warmer as she addressed him knowing he was unaccustomed to formality "Officer Reuben" She let a small smile onto her face as the experiment sheepishly grinned. "I has been a while hasn't it? Follow me to my office." She gestured down the hallway to another door where she knew they wouldn't like the surprise that was waiting for them. They walked down the hall together, but a bit uncertain.

The door opened and the ruler's chair swiveled to reveal someone sitting in the "throne" as it were. A small rodent -like life- form glared up at the other two, seeming to smirk evilly. "Hello, so nice of you all to join me!" This caused the two Armada members to flinch backwards in surprise and fear.

"HÄMSTERVIEL?! What are you doing here?! After what you've done I'm amazed they even let you LIVE." Gantu screeched in terror, assuming the worse as Hämsterviel just sat there beaming. Gantu had been sure he would never hear from the criminal mastermind again yet there he was face to ugly face with him. The star-captain definitely wished the death penalty hadn't been outlawed centuries ago, by galactic standards this was akin to a wish for the return of flogging or other inhumane death methods. Clinically administered death was just inherently distasteful to galactic culture, which of course meant that the worse punishment even the most dastardly criminals could receive is life-imprisonment.

The Grand Councilwoman hurriedly intervened between the two before conclusion jumping could occur.

"He is here on parole. You are his officers, my apologies for neglecting to mention that earlier. I was too afraid the information about this top secret mission would leak."

"Mission? Hey lady-" The yellow being protested but then caught himself "I mean... Your highness, if you honestly think we'll team up with this MANIAC, then you are out of your royal mind!" The alien called Reuben yelled angrily at the most powerful woman in the galaxy as they knew it.

"I believe that under the circumstance you will find that we have little choice." She despaired inwardly and stepped towards the ex -criminal sitting at her desk and pushed him off casually with a flick of her wrist, knocking down the base of the book stack he used as a booster. "Please, sit." She gestured, secretly pressing some buttons, and seats appeared, both comfortably proportional to their respective sizes. They both eyed the white and red- eyed alien suspiciously as they sat down. "Now, I open this discussion with a question -

"Excuse me? Don't I get a chair?!" The convict on parole asked imperiously and the Grand Councilwoman gave him a cold look before turning her attention back on the other two. Hämsterviel scowled and stood behind them instead.

"How long has it been since either of you two heard from Earth?"

"Oh!" Gantu realized with a jolt, he had nearly forgotten about the tiny planet. Even though it was technically Reuben's home planet and a place of significant importance for him he had nearly forgotten it was a real place. The stories they told of it were more like a fairy tale than reality. He had told his troops about the beauty of the planet, and only mentioned his villainous behavior in passing. Perhaps he aimed to rewrite the memory of his darkest moments with the loveliness and unique terrain of the insignificant little-known Earth.

"Uh..." Reuben did remember Earth but had been purposely not remained in touch with his relatives and family members. Truthfully he wasn't really a family guy, or a people person, and preferred to be as far from them as possible whenever possible. It wasn't that he didn't like them, it was simply because they were too much work.

"I do not wish to point blame for this situation on you two, there is nothing you possibly could've done to prevent this. Had you kept in touch nothing would change, please keep that in mind." She took a deep breath and brought down a monitor in front of them "This is live footage." She explained.

"WOOHOO!" Lilo screamed as they sped away at high speed as she and her younger brother whisked away from an entire squadron of police cruisers going after their small kiddie scooter. This is the equivalent of a hundred cops on motorcycles not being able to catch two middle scholars on a go cart.

"Tukibowaba!" Stitch revved the engine and they went even faster, he agreed that this was much more fun than sitting around and hiding,even if it was risky and dangerous. The life of mischievous was as glorious as they thought it would be and he loved nearly every moment of it. Except for that tedious cool down and wait part. That part was a little bit too difficult to take sometimes. In fact they hadn't really been resting long before, he and Lilo just go too bored …. or did they?

They descended onto a planet, clearly not checking to make sure it was empty before wreaking havoc on it. Several cop cars crashed into the surrounding environment, causing irreversible damage to the blossoming landscape. Another ship weaved it's way through the cop cars and landed in a cruising pace just behind the scooter.

"Lilo! Stitch! You must stop this! I understand you're upset but that doesn't mean you can go off rampaging like this! It's not worth it!" Pleakley's unmistakable voice echoed out of the speaker, he had a business town that was stern and commanding that Gantu nor Reuben had ever heard out of the man.

"NAGA!" Stitch yelled not even bothering to look back at them, he just shouted high defiance with no reason in sight save for that of defiance for the sake of defiance. Actually in a way this made him a bit more like a teenager. Although the alien in question was only decade, and was still very much a child and a bit of a ways to go before he would be a teenager.

"It's totally worth it!" Lilo called angrily back at them, wobbly getting out of her chair to make a point before quickly sitting back down. Stitch then slammed the acceleration pad and they zoomed away from the ship of their relatives. The ship sped up as well and started firing tractor beams at them, occasionally picking up rock and debris they left behind instead. The beam of light reached out for them like a sprawling and desperately concerned hand. The scooter in response blasted into space and away from the bigger ship.

"Well, my cousins have snapped." Reuben concluded as the three previous antagonists stared in dumb shock at this display. Even Hamsterviel, who was aware of the situation beforehand was completely shocked at the mindlessness of the two heroic children he had come to despise and then went on to admire.

"What caused this?" A little too loud at first but then he continued softer but still authoritatively angry "When did it happen? How did it happen?!" Gantu asked absolutely petrified and unnerved. There was a look of pure non-comprehension on his large face. He was not contended. These were the very children who had reformed him. He could not believe that they had now been turned to the "dark side". Emotions of worry reeled within the hulking life-form. At the forefront of it all was denial, but he was cautiously accepting it while hoping for it to turn out false. He struggled to understand, but it was too much for his simple way of thinking. Gantu liked things simple, he liked an unchallenged world-view, he was becoming more flexible but this kind of shock was too much for his system.

"We're not entirely sure. The root of the problem is still undetermined but Doctor Jookiba hypothesizes that it may be because of natural adolescent rebelliousness or because of some mental unrest within their psyche caused by a lack of what is considered a normal childhood on their planet, worsened by the harassment of other children approximately their age" The GC wasn't entirely in the usual regality, her voice wavered and her head was tilted down. It was possible, that she cared more for the two than even she was aware of.

"So basically, they up and threw some major temper tantrum out of nowhere one day and left? That doesn't sound like them." Reuben asked concerned deeply for his cousin and the girl that turned him to good. The experiment had never been big on familial bonds, the only family he had known for a long time was an estranged mad-scientist after all, but when it came to those two he felt a rare sense of obligation. He had always been proud to call Stitch his cousin, but now the responsibility of having to was throwing itself at him. It felt selfish, but in a way Reuben was secretly angrier at them than he had ever been at anyone before. He had put so much of his faith and trust on them, yet it seems they betrayed it. "How long have they been at this?"

"Six thousand standard units. In Earth time that would be nearly a year." The Grand Councilwomen sighed and shook her head, pressing a button to retract the screen.

"Yikes." Reuben mouthed and Gantu shook his head almost quivering with what seemed to be rage but what was really more like grief. He raised his head and breathed sullenly.

"Excuse me, your proficiency, but what exactly do you expect us to do about it?" Gantu caught on and met her eye to eye.

"It's simple really, for nearly a year we have been doing nothing but try and pull them back to us. Clearly we have been doing it wrong, if we wish to return Lilo and Stitch to their former er... glory," Glory could be too much, or too little in fact but it didn't seem to be the right word. They were special and that was undeniable to most life-forms, not to mention how they were the only ambassadors of a planet containing half a thousand genetic mutants and a government capable of fooling the Federation once…. The Federation had every right to treat this as top priority. "… as it were, than we need to stop pulling and start pushing instead."

"I don't follow." Reuben said looking between Gantu and The GC.

"She means, that it's time to play the villain so those two rebelling rebellious teenagers can stop rebelling and remember they are really the heroes!" The crook on parole jumped to get their attention. His tail swept confidently around his cape, inwardly and outwardly he grinned with mischief. His voice, haughty as ever, seemed to make the do-gooders cringe.

"Unfortunately, Hämsterviel is right. Those two have shown to not be capable of listening to reason instead we must take action and return them home by opposing force." She motioned with a fist as her voice grew more serious..

"Push instead of pull..." Gantu realized with a wince. The Sheik shook his head decisively "Okay. We'll do it, they'll thank us later right?" He nodded to the Grand Councilwoman "What is the plan and how much time can we expect it to take up?"

"That's a bit hard to answer because you see..." The villain walked forward and jumped onto the GC's desk to face his former accomplices. "We also have to KEEP them on Earth once we get them back. This mission, might just be permanent. Consider yourselves rehired as my official minions for all eternity." His evil laughter emptied the halls and everyone present were reminded of when he tried to take over the universe, making despicable and unforgivable changes to it right here in this very room. Hamsterviel would've sent the GC to the dungeons but he changed his mind and wanted to humiliate her instead by demoting her to his personal assistance. He could certainly add "humiliate most influential life- form in the known galaxy" to his Villainous Accomplishment list. That had actually never been done before in the history of villainy and the Federation. He was a pretty formidable foe when it got down to it, if one was willing to ignore his goofy demeanor which was easy when actions spoke louder than words.

"Gantu, let's reconsider." Reuben tugged at the space suit of his much larger companion with a nervous look on his face.

"Reconsidering." He thought about it, when he thought about it he owed a lot to those two rampaging adolescents. It was thanks to them he got his position back, and returned a greater captain then he ever was previously. They had taught him so much in such little time and to turn them away now would go against everything he now stood for. Although he couldn't just leave his new life as Captain behind so easily. That all boiled down to one very important question. Were they worth it? "... and we're still going to do it uh... that is; I'll do it. You don't have to if you don't " Gantu stared down awkwardly at his smaller companion.

"Gantu…" There was a silence that echoed across the room with his sigh and then a pause. "You ika patookie! Of course I'm going with you!" Reuben yelled with clenched teeth, offended by the implication he would back down and out of this when it seemed his cousins that he owed were finally in need of being retributed. Ever since he joined the Armada, Reuben had slowly become prideful of what little virtue he had…. of the virtue he was trying to build.

"Is it settled then? Are you clear on what you have to do?" The GC asked and the ex- villains listened in intently. Redemption an atonement were on their minds, but they weren't entirely sure the plan was quite so suited for it. The Grand Councilwomen would've reminded them that given their résumé it was really all they were suited to do in the situation.

"I think we lost them," Lilo commented as they sped away into an asteroid cluster far in the deep of the space. The black- haired alien nodded to her partner and they broke out into laughter as they drifted aimlessly among the debris. Lilo ducked into the reserves and pulled out a set of two long metal flattened rods covered in button and wires. She pressed a couple and flipped a switch and unraveled a screen of light like a scroll. Energy fizzed around and there were some pictures and words displayed on it. "Lunch, Stitch?"

"Stitch sick of freeze dried. Food raid?" He glanced over at the food producer with a disgusted look on his face and looked out his side of the window lazily. He watched the asteroids hover by and some space debris hurl around pathetically without aim or direction.

"We're in enough trouble as it is. We've got to wait until the authorities relax, remember?" Lilo grimaced as she looked at the food producer as well, she didn't really like the taste of the stuff either and was just a sick of it as Stitch. What she would do to get some Earth food right now…. she actually found herself missing Pleakley's cooking which she found amusing. Lilo was desperate enough that she wished for Nani's cooking, maybe even Jumba's mad science-fied food would be a good alternative to what their diet had consisted of for the last year. They had some good space food, but a lot of it made her miss good-old Earth vegetables. Broccoli now seemed like a delicacy compared to another dry, empty flavored stick of roast. She sighed "I'll just take an appetite suppressor for now. You want one?"

"Nah. Already not hungry." Stitch admitted and Lilo plopped what look like a stick of chewing gum in her mouth and chewed. It actually really was chewing gum if chewing gum had been chemically synthesized to turn off the desire to consume food within a humanoid life -form. It was a rubber compound meant to be chewed up and spat back out, but still able to be safely consumed just in case. Lilo blew a bubble that displayed psychedelic colors, it popped almost immediately since it was not meant to be blown up and because Lilo didn't want to lose her gum she made sure to keep the bubble small.

They sat there in silence for one quick moment before the world around them started to bounce and sway with the waves of hyperspace. Lilo and Stitch exchanged a glance and quickly raced to turn on the signal catching device that was incredibly useful for eavesdropping. They were immediately terrified, appalled and glad they thought to turn it on.

"THIS ISN'T EARTH YOU FOOLS!" A very familiar accent boomed over the speaker, the two adolescent extraterrestrials reacted to this voice with an immediate jump and a hostile look. Stitch's claws rested over the engine ready to start it.

"I'm sorry, Doctor Hämsterviel, sir. 625 must've messed the coordinates." Another very familiar voice muttered apologetically. Stitch looked miffed and his jaw dropped. Lilo squinted her eyes and wondered if she was really hearing what she thought she was hearing. The two grew unnaturally stiff.

"We must hurry! Thanks to that little girl and 626, the Earth is unprotected and ripe for the ruling! I'm sure we can even "convince" a few experiments onto our side! BWA ha ha ha ha! It is all so perfect, hurry and get the ship back running so I can continue my perfect plan, you fish -brained smelly head!"

"I'm on it..." Gantu sighed heavily, and the transmission cut. A few moments later the waves of quantum hyperspace washed over them once more. There was a moment of silence as the look on the earthling's faces slowly turned to one of guilt.

"Gantu?! Hamsterviel!?" Lilo broke out suddenly with a wild, seemingly indignant shout filled with quivering rage "What's going on? I thought we put Hamsterviel safely away in prison and turned Gantu to good!" She seethed and stood up "Urgh! How did this happen?!"

"Investigation?" Stitch suggested sadly.

"It'd be wrong not to!" Lilo kicked the engine into gear from where she was in the passenger seat.

Stitch ripped open a panel and typed in Earth's coordinates, the planet displayed on the screen as he pulled the lever for the H-drive. They sped into action with a blur of red and blue, leaving a sonic boom of energy behind them.

The next moment their ship was drifting near the Earth's atmosphere. Immediately after that, their ship's communication port started to light up and ring uncontrollably. Lilo and Stitch exchanged a perfectly matched look of enraged annoyance "Stich... be a _dear _and get that for us." Lilo's voice was liquid venom like Stitch's expression and the latter nodded.

"Ih!" He agreed and smashed the beeping, beeping device into a pitiful crater. He growled and looked at the locating screen. There was a couple of seconds of silence in which the tension slowly died down. "They're not here." Stitch commented weakly.

"Maybe they messed up the location again and we don't know if Reuben's evil again either. He might've been giving them wrong locations on purpose. Let's go down and investigate. Just pretend it's another alien planet." Lilo suggested when suddenly another ship emerged from behind them. "Chootah, Stitch! It's Jumba and Pleakley's ship, what do we do!?"

"To Earth!" Stitch yowled and they started to descend onto the planet at a speedy rate. He yowled "Cowabunga!" and revealed his extra set of limbs as he stood in his seat. The screen on the ship kicked into targeting mode,searching for the nearest landmass in their direction. The small scooter hurled like a meteor down into the planet only barely cooling as they flashed through the atmospheric levels.

"Not Hawaii! Not Hawaii!" Lilo pointed out to him as the screen flashed the location of their home, Stitch gasped somewhat appalled as two of his arms let go of the wheel to cover his mouth in shock. He sat back down and desperately jerked the wheel so hard that he ripped it straight off the panel. "Uh oh..." Lilo grimaced as the scooter spun out of control. She reached over to the driver seat and smacked a button that would engage the autopilot, but of course it was broken. Stitch apologized weakly and threw the wheel aside. He grappled at levers and switches frantically. Unnoticed by the two preteens, they had successfully changed their course and were now heading toward another island completely.

They screamed and clung to each other as they hurtled towards the land mass. Stitch shut Lilo's eyes for her by placing paws over her lids. The young girl struggled to get him off with a couple of annoyed yells but her hands stayed fixed firmly to the sides of her seat. The scooter slammed into the beach sending a shower of sand everywhere before skidding to a halt leaving a long trail mark that smoldered with ash. The two children slowly let go of each other and looked around them. "Hey, this isn't Hawaii!"

"No... isa naga." Stitch surveyed the area in surprise and then looked at the ship's cracked locating monitor. "Isa... Ee...zaa... yo-oy" He was able to read before the lights flickered out. "Ever heard of 'Ezayoy'?"

"No. Can't be part of the Hawaiian chain with a name like that." Lilo hopped out of the wreck as Stitch gathered up all their stuff from the carnage.

"Good." He scoffed as he heaved what little luggage they brought with them out. "Butifa island." After dropping the bags, he looked at the wild life ahead of them. "Not as good." He laughed giving Lilo a light-hearted look.

"Yeah, it's not quite as tropical as paradise but it'll do for now."

…

"Oh great and wonderful spiritual stone, please bring good fortune to my family and help my father get home safe. If you think I've been good, please... please help me find a friend... or let one of the boys at the dojo be my friend. If you could just make one of these things come true please do, I promise I'll be good." A little girl's voice echoed throughout the forest weakly, a slight breeze blew in causing some birds and insects to scatter. The sound of distant waves could be heard from where she was but only barely and when the sea was rough. There was a grand tree surrounding a giant boulder, coated in moss and eroded with rain. The girl felt contended as she stared at it and picked up her bag before heading away from it. She walked down the familiar pathways humming randomly to herself.

"Hello, Yuna. Did you wish on the spiritual stone?" "Yes, Grandma. But it's a secret! Shh!" "Of course it is dear, It'd be wrong of me to pry on your secret wishes. Off to school now Yuna, you'd be late enough as it is." The old women laughed and the young girl skipped away happily.

…

"Are... did they really?" Pleakley asked staring at the screen, the trail of smoke they left was already too soon clearing. There would be little hope of finding what continent they landed on, or where they were now. The Plorganarian's heart sunk, or sunk more than it already was it seemed to have stayed sunken since Lilo and Stitch ran away. Jumba admitted to himself though, his partner did a very good job of hiding the full extent of his worry.

"Hey, stop hogging screen!" Jumba pushed him away angrily. He typed some stuff on the monitor and two dots were glowing on the picture of the dot was blue and the other was red.

"Oh no! They're in the middle of the ocean! This is bad! This is very bad!" Pleakley gasped when he recognized it "Time to panic! Time to panic!". Jumba just watched this in annoyance as Pleakley genuinely started to become heartbroken, Jumba had treated the situation with surgical detachment and calmness. The evil genius had felt disheartened in a very different way, as in he would refuse to let himself feel the loss he should feel. The mad scientist zoomed in on the part they were on, until it was revealed they were on an island. Some information flittered on the screen, translated from Tantalog.

"Is small island. Primarily a pineapple plant and sugarcane farm." He chuckled, and zoomed even further on them with satellite image so they could see the two clearly marching into the island. "626 must've broken something during descent, hovercraft is completely totaled."

"So..." Pleakley wondered reared in the words on the screen, squinting his eye. Jumba nodded to him gleefully.

"Should be cinch to catch." He made a small gesture with one balled purple fist and Pleakley applauded.

Lilo whistled ""Got a lot of living to do" while she walked down the paths on her lonesome. Stitch meanwhile was scouting the island and swinging from branch to branch in the lush jungle "Find anything Stitch?" Lilo called when she spotted him again.

"Ih. Island is Japanese." The little blue mutant had concluded this using his super hearing and language data banks.

"Oh. I don't speak Japanese and the language shots are completely broke aren't they?" Lilo sighed, breathing in the warm island air. She was nervous but it was good to be back on their home planet.

"With time, meega can fix!" The alien, or rather not an alien since he was back on his home planet, cheered and his sibling sighed in relief. "But... not soon."

"That's fine. We'll be here awhile, so you've got plenty of time." Lilo resumed humming and Stitch joined as they walked triumphantly across the path."In the meantime we should go find a town or something so we can restock on supplies."

"And REAL food!" Stitch cheered and did a flip, "No more freeze dried!" He hummed to himself as they walked.

"Hey, I'll race you there!" Lilo realized, "I bet I find a good restaurant before you!"

"Nuh uh, Stitch faster!" Stitch laughed obnoxiously and the two took off with a jolt.

A little later….

"Ta da! Pineapple factory!" Stitch gestured, "Isa factory, so fine to steal from! Right?" He asked curiously as they peered from behind the bushes. Their stomachs both collectively rumbled at the sight of the food.

"Good job, Stitch! This is awesome." Lilo thanked him with a wide hug. "Okay here's the plan we beg and only if that doesn't work then we steal. Got it?"

"Moral crisis... averted!" Stitch nodded as the two walked into the factory waving at some workers. They tried to look cute and innocent but instead of getting food the workers just called the guards. One thing lead to another and before long they thrashed the place and ran to town. Visually from the outside, it appeared they went in, the pineapple plant blew up and they ran back out.

They really were quite the trouble-makers nowadays.

Soon they were running to town, going in and out of every shop in a really bad attempt to hide inside.

Stitch ran, splitting up from Lilo to better their odds of escape. He jumped absentmindedly onto a table and wrecked some kids' ice cream.

"Oops, sokka!" he chuckled and licked the ice cream off their faces. The little blond one cried out in disgust and the other three just stared petrified. He leaped down only to fling out the ice cream box, not wanting to waste it he chowed down on the flying cones "Ooh, frosty!" He commented and threw the box back in it's original position causing a man who looked remarkably like the sun burned ice cream tourist (there was an uncanny resemblance in fact) to fall backwards into a trash can spilling junk everywhere. Stitch paid no mind to this and continued to run. He ran to the fruit stand and tugged at woman's dress "Excuse me, would you consider hiding an illegal alien?" He asked carefully in Japanese, only to find he had already been speaking it.

As he wondered how long had he been doing that, the woman screeched and fell backwards into the boxes, and a watermelon fell on Stitch's head, in surprise he jumped back and tripped on something, causing him to bowl himself right into the fish stand. The watermelon smashed off his head and he took a cart to speed across town to the bakery. Somehow he was unfortunate to hit yet another bump, and the cart stopped suddenly, bucking a fish right onto the baker's gingerbread men in the process. Stitch apologized again causing the woman to freak out and run right into a shelf of bread.

"Whoa. Sensitive people." Stitch joked and bit the head off of a gingerbread man. In a strange way, he found himself enjoying the mayhem. It seemed strangely wholesome - this is how people should react to an alien, the old familiar Earth greeting was something he rather missed.

Lilo meanwhile had appeared to make a safe uneventful break for the Chitame forest, she looked back for Stitch who seemed to be way behind. The blue Hawaiian mutant caught up to her with great speed and she smiled, feeling comforted. "That shopping trip was a bust. Since we can't buy or get anything from the town, how about we forage for now?" Lilo suggested and Stitch agreed enthusiastically. They found a tree with fruit in it and Lilo climbed up it with relative ease. "These look kind of like mangos." Lilo bit into one reluctantly "Yeah, these are mangos. Catch Stitch!" She picked another one and dropped it down below to her best friend. Stitch did some pretty impressive tricks to catch the falling fruit, and swallowed each piece whole. Lilo made relatively quick work of her mangoes since she was hungry but didn't eat nearly as much as Stitch. Stitch punched the tree and Lilo threw the last mango down. She climbed back to her experiment family member then they both yawned simultaneously.

"Stitch sleepy." Stitch flopped backwards onto Lilo who also sat down against the tree. They exchanged a final look and then fell asleep together. The several days without much sleep had taken a serious toll on them, and they were really tired. They welcomed the good sleep and didn't care if there was anyone after them. This would've been a mistake no matter where they were.

"There they are!" Yuna yelled and emerged into the clearing causing Stitch to wake up with a jolt. However Lilo remained sleeping, and Stitch resolved to keep it that way. "You're the ones who caused all that trouble in town?" Well, it was only typical that he'd end up paying for that in some way. Stitch figured he shouldn't have kept at it at all, in fact he started to think he should've avoided the town entirely.

"Could you not be so loud?" He asked with a yawn "Trying to sleep." He muttered further on, crawling away from Lilo. To his credit, he understood that it was his mess and therefore his responsibility to clean up.

"You're under arrest! Don't move!" Yuna tried to convey authority but seemed to fail. The young island girl was quivering.

"Arrest? Yuga little girl, not look like cop to meega." Stitch got up and gave a slightly concerned glance back to Lilo. She needed the sleep more than he did. He looked back to the little girl and made plans to lead her away from their sleeping place.

"Don't underestimate me, Monster!" She charged at him angrily "I am no weakling!" She announced and brought a punch in his direction. Stitch dodged it easily and stood at the mouth of the clearing.

"Weakling, weakling!" He chanted provokingly, and as planned the little girl charged at him, yelling in protest. Stitch smirked and tossed her further away from Lilo as she approached. He leapt over her head and straight into the forest.

"Tukibowaba! Naga catch me! Naga beat me! Weakling!" He taunted and stuck his fingers in his ears at her, and then swung from the branch he was on a couple of times. He laughed as he leaped further back into the forest. The girl chased after him angrily "Butifa, she's fast!" he mused and leapt another tree then onto a rock. He laughed down at her but to his surprise she jumped up and gave him a roundhouse kick to the face. It hurt, but it didn't really do any damage. He was impressed nonetheless at the power behind it. It wasn't what he expected from a little small-town girl like herself.

He jumped off the rock and onto a vine. He laughed and spat some acid at her. Although intentionally missing, Stitch caught the edge of her dress which sizzled at the touch of the fabric. The girl jumped back in shock but also caught a vine. From that vantage point she leaped forward and jumped onto Stitch, the weight of both the earthlings combined cause the plant to snap and they both went tumbling down the hillside. "Ahh! Naga butifa! Opposite of butifa!" He yowled as he looked below them. Not cool was a bit of an understatement, it appeared there was some sort of river running through there.

"It's fine the water will break our fall!" Yuna felt she had to assure the terrifying but terrified creature next to her as they plummeted. In an odd way she felt that she had connected with it… him.

"MEEGA CAN'T SWIM!" He screamed desperately seconds before they hit the water, but Yuna heard and she understood. At least she did when she popped her head out of the water and realized he hadn't floated up, she didn't hesitate to go back down for him. On the rocky shore of the bottom, Yuna found Stitch struggling as if there were thousands of invisible weights pressing up against him, or more accurately, weighing him down. She picked him up and saw that underwater he was like metal. He wasn't heavy but he was dense like a rock. That explained why he was so stable even though she was so sure that blow would knock him off balance, she realized.

"Duunga haga blabla!" Stitch coughed up the water from his lungs, and it squirted out like he was a bath toy. It was a rather impressive sight for the most part, not that most people would guess the water was really coming from his lungs. Often times when he was in water his access points closed up preventing the access of water in the first place, but that particular fall had him off-guard. He shook himself dry in typical dog fashion then sat up.

"What?" At this point she was certain the freak was just making stuff up, things couldn't get much more gibberish sounding than that.

"I HATE water!" He screamed in translation as he got up angrily and stared at the cliff before them. While internally he remarked to himself how easily scalable that it would be to get over it the girl next to him made a noise of awe and fear. She walked forward a bit, and sighed.

"I guess we'll have to find another path then." She place her hand on the smooth cliff side rock in front of her. Stitch rolled his eyes at the "we" and jumped onto the rock, and crawled on top of it. He hardly knew this girl, and in that moment he was okay with leaving her there. She definitely seemed like the type capable of looking after herself.

"You do that." Stitch commented with an evil sounding laugh "I'll take the easy way." he started to crawl up the side of the geological feature with ease.

"Nonsense! If you can do it, so can I!" She stubbornly insisted and climbed up rather impressively. Stitch looked back from his higher perch to watch her speed up the cliff, as if not minding the cuts and bruises she suffered as a result. "Huh?" She suddenly lost her grip and dropped off the face of the cliff. Stitch gasped in horror as he automatically leapt into action. He threw himself down to get her, grabbed her hand and stopped their fall using the cliff. "Let me go! I don't need your help!" She whined and flailed partially.

Stitch raised an eyebrow at her, and muttered something in Tantalog about an ungrateful brat.

She was likely older than him, but he felt like he was babysitting a child. His first impression of her was not the greatest.

"Okie takka" He shrugged and tossed her up to the top of the cliff with a flick of his wrist. He leaped up the side of the cliff and caught her before she hit the ground of the top "If you really think you don't need my help... " He dropped her and scuttled away.

"Why are you so bad?" She asked wearily, rubbing at her temples. In that moment it hadn't really processed that she was at the top yet.

"Stitch not bad." Stich stopped, that familiar and very important accusation had been dropped on him out of nowhere. "I'm fluffy!" He reminded persistently, almost out of reflex.

"You wrecked half the town!" Yuna got up and yelled at him. She seemed to notice that she was at the top now, but there wasn't' really a reaction aside from a quick and bare survey of her surroundings.

"Meega wrecked one market." Stitch shrugged and internally expressed regret over that. Lilo still didn't know about how much of a mess he made "trying" to escape. "INJIBAY is half the town?" he asked.

"Small island." Yuna drooped sadly and the sky above got dark. It began to rain very suddenly "What? How did that even happen, it was sunny just a minute ago!" She hissed angrily. Which was true, there definitely wasn't a cloud in the sky so the current weather conditions really made no sense.

"Lilo!" Stitch cried, and tried to figure out how to get back to her. He hadn't the faintest clue where he was on the island, but he had super senses and a good memory so he hoped it was enough.

"Oh no you don't! I'm not letting you get away that easily!" Yuna grabbed him by the ears and he yowled in pain. She dragged him into a nearby cave and let go of him.

"Lilo, needs meega!" Stitch announced angrily and tried to escape without causing more pain to the already bruised girl.

"Why?" Yuna asked, catching him off guard. He thought about this for a second and his voice went flat.

"Okay, okay! Isa Stitch that needs Lilo, but please...!" He admitted in exasperation, "She naga has shelter like we do!" He pointed out "All alone, too!"

"You really care for that girl back there don't you? She isn't... she's not like what you are though is she?" Yuna asked curiously as Stitch was about to leave the cave, she was certain earlier that the girls seemed human enough but maybe upon closer look she had reptilian eyes or whiskers and a tail. It wouldn't surprise Yuna, who had been raised on the belief in the supernatural all her life. She was under the impression that Stitch was some other-worldly monster.

"Naga. Lilo human." Stitch admitted shamelessly, he didn't really think much of it. (And why would he? To him it didn't make sense for Lilo to be anything else other than human, and Yuna's asking was a trivial matter.)

Lighting thundered outside and Yuna screeched. He flinched at the sound of it, "Gaba? Yuuga afraid of thunder or something?" More thunder boomed and Yuna grabbed the blue mutant and pulled him back towards the inside of the cave.

"YES!" She screeched and squeezed him tight. She realized what she was going and embarrassedly pulled away.

"Great. Now if I leave you I'm a jerk, but if I leave Lilo I'm still a jerk." Stitch groaned as he grasped the basis of his predicament. He flattened his ears, and scowled. "Okie takka, pigtail girl. Cama'ahar tey tebracres?" Stitch asked "What's your name?" He translated after a moment of hesitation.

"I'm Yuna..." She introduced herself carefully, but then lighting flashed itself again and she went straight for a hug.

"Relax, Stitch take care of Yuna." He assured, pointlessly from his point of view, as they were safe in the cave and there wasn't really a way to fight off electricity.  
>"What about that Lilo girl?"<p>

"Soon as Stitch with Lilo again, Meega forget all about Yuna." He scoffed without really thinking about it. "Well... that was blunt and kind of mean." Yuna let go of Stitch. The blue earthling knew he could be a little bit mean when it came to being protective of his sister, but it wasn't like Lilo didn't do the exact same thing. It had been them against the world for as long as he could remember. Their bluntness too, was something they had always shared. Bluntness might not be the word, Stitch reconsidered, it was just an overall lack of tact.

"Sokka but isa true! But... " Stitch thought about it "Yuuga can be part of our O'hana - Family. Even if we only just met..." Stitch chuckled, wondering how Lilo would feel about it. They would be staying for a while, and Yuna was an Earth girl. Perhaps Family would be stressing it, but close family friend might become accurate.

"Ichariba Choodee!" Yuna gasped, her eyes alighted with a sudden happiness.

"Huh? Gaba eek?" He asked, not really processing the word. It was nonsense to his databanks, although it held remarkable similarity to a curse word in another alien language.

"Once we meet, we become like family."

"Ah, isa sweet." There was a couple more moments of silence, "O'hana naga work that way." He admitted breaking the moment completely.

"Are you normally like this?" Yuna grunted angrily, but didn't react physically other than to pout.

"Ih" He nodded and then considered it more deeply. "More or less"

He came to the conclusion again, there was a general lack of tact especially ever since they ran away.

Lilo slept through the rain, only once the light shined on her did she awaken. Her suit was water resistant but her hair was soaked. She looked around "Stitch?" she called out in worry for her family member. She got up and searched around, as she walked the trail she eventually heard voices and footsteps coming from afar.

"So where did you come from anyway?" There was a pause "What? You're from the sky?" the voice asked

"Huh? Oh, naga. Translation error, sokka. Stitch thought Yuna meant how get here, not where from - No, Lilo and Stitch from Hawaii." That was her Stitch alright, Lilo realized with a happy jump and rushed towards the sounds. "LILO!" Stitch spotted her and ran to her as well.

"Stitch! Where'd you go, it rained so much, huh?! Wait, why didn't you wake me?" Lilo embraced him and they twirled in a spin before they broke apart.

"Uh... well... " Stitch motioned to Yuna and Lilo dropped him in surprise, at the sight of the other girl obviously assuming the worse.

"Who are you?" Lilo got ready to fight and loomed over the shorter girl. Yuna slid into her fighting stance like wise. Lilo didn't hesitate for the match to be declared she made a feign swipe for Yuna's feet causing her to jump and then bashed her in the head. The paler girl slid back and was knocked off balance. Yuna fell and tripped into the mud, covering her face and hair completely. The two, no- longer-so-extra, terrestrials started to laugh uncontrollably "Whoever you are you sure know how to fall!"

"Hey! That was a cheap trick!" She protested and wiped the dirt off of her.

"Oh, she speaks English wait, no... I'm speaking Japanese! Huh, I guess some of the autopilot still worked after all." Lilo laughed in relief, she was worried that there'd be no way to communicate with the villagers, lest they find out Stitch could talk.

"Alright!" Stitch cheered, and jumped up and down "We can all speak together!" The two girls glared angrily at him "Gaba? What'd meega do?" Lilo wrung out her hair and Yuna gestured to her dress. "Oh... uh...look over there" He pointed and began to run when he realized there was something over there. "Giant rock?" He asked in surprise. It wasn't interesting, but it was definitely something there. Not to mention the fact that the boulder seemed perfectly and unnaturally round.

"Oh, that's the Chitame stone. Grandma says that people and creatures from all over the universe come to receive it's mystical powers." Yuna boasted proudly as her company exchanged amused looks.

"Aww, I remember when I used to believe in stuff like that. Remember that Stitch?" It was true that the younger version of themselves would probably be all over that sort of intrigue but they were a bit older now and exposed to so many contradicting pieces of lore that they're interest was temporarily subsided.

"Ih, seems like only two years ago."  
>"It was two years ago."<br>"Oh, right! Ha, ha!"

"What's all the fuss?" An old lady walked in calmly from the hills, towards the children. She had a strange calmness about her that the Americans picked up on immediately.

"Grandma! These two... foreigners... wrecked the town earlier! Oh - also they don't believe in the power of the Chitame stone."

"Ah. The Chitame stone can use the power of the Chitame forest to grant any creature in the universe's greatest wish." The elder put her hand on the stone calmly and peacefully. She did have a serene air around her.

"Yeah…. That's the thing she pays attention to." Lilo whispered to Stitch with a giggle, she then put her attention back on the old woman. "But if it grants anyone's wish why isn't everyone using it?" Lilo questioned more audibly.

"You need to show it you are worthy by doing good deeds. It may sound easy, but not just anyone with a kind heart can pull it off." She winked at them "You two seem nice. I'm sure you could do it."

"Psst, Lilo Stitch think Yuna's Grandma trying to tell us something."  
>"Yeah, but what?" Lilo agreed weakly. The old grandmother heard this and stifled a giggle, she decided they would figure it out soon enough. Which was incorrect since they wouldn't.<p>

"Well, Yuna it's time to go home for dinner." She turned around and started to walk away slowly expecting her granddaughter to follow.

"Wait! What about Stitch and Lilo?" Yuna looked back at them in concern.

"That's not how you say it, my name goes first." Lilo corrected with some annoyance, nobody had ever gotten it wrong before in the history of their existence.

"Ih! Ih! Isa Lilo and Stitch!" Stitch chimed in, feeling slightly less annoyed because he was somewhat fond of Yuna. At least, he was more fond of her than Lilo was. Lilo still harbored some suspicions and reluctance towards the girl.

"Okay. Lilo and Stitch would you like to join us for dinner?" The elder asked and the two were about to decline awkwardly when their stomachs betrayed them by rumbling "I guess that's a yes!" She turned and walked away, expecting them to follow. The three exchanged looks and smiled pleasantly at each other.

"You're both still in trouble for causing all that mayhem by the way." Yuna mentioned as she followed her Grandmother.

Lilo scowled, "What just happened?"

"Hello, Moon to Pleakley, are you ready to go?" Jumba asked preparing a smaller less obvious ship than their huge red jet or their slightly less huge blue jet he had used to chase his family down the other day. Both vehicles could be seen behind him parked at the government's moon base. His current vehicle of choice was a spacecraft that looked remarkably like their old Hawaiian ex- buggy, except it was sleek in black.

"Almost, almost!" Pleakley lugged a bag towards him "Our regular Hawaiian garb won't do on Izayoi so I had to take the time to pick us some new outfits." Instead of wearing his agent's uniform, Plealey was dressed in a ridiculous green vest, jeans, and a grotesquely blue bow tie.

"Pwah. We won't be there long." Jumba stared heatedly at the luggage as Pleakley jammed the cases into the back of their buggy.

"You took just as long packing your science equipment!" The thin alien protested with a grunt as he pushed the last bag.

"Hey! Unlike ugly clothing, we need those!" He hissed at his partner as they started up the buggy. Pleakley opened the door and slid into the passenger side. "Alright, get ready to get our children back! Did you contact Nani, yet?"

"Mr. Bubbles said he'd be on it, why?"

"Just wanted to see look on face when she and little ones are reunited." The buggy lifted into the atmosphere and towards Earth. Lurking in the background, a bigger and darker ship passed by them.


	3. Ohana

Deep within the reaches of space, a woman stared contemplatively out into the open void from her desk. Her long fingers idly curled and unfurled, she had a look of tiredness about her. Moments pass, her spacey relaxation came to an end as she shifted back to the paper work in front of her. Suddenly, she paused and took a deep breath.

"I forgot to inform Jumba and Pleakley that Captain Gantu and Galley Officer Rueben have not actually returned to villain-hood and Dr. Hamsterviel is not actually a large scale threat." She mumbled as she pulled out a small handheld device and pressed some buttons, then paused while the thing made small beeping noise. With a muffled click she canceled the signal and typed in a different set of numbers.

"Perhaps, it'd be best if they didn't know." The most influential living being in the galaxy decided and spoke into the round handheld device "Please call Earth Patrol 10 and inform them that Agent Wendy Pleakley and Dr. Jumba Jookiba are not aware of their mission."

Lilo slept in a strange red dress with yellow flowers on it, she laid sprawled out on a mattress by the bed of another little girl who was sleeping in a pink night gown. On the bed along with her was Stitch, who was spawned out in a similar way to Lilo and snoring far more than she was. They didn't normally sleep in this way unless they were really tired. The other girl tossed and turned, putting her foot on Stitch's stomach.

Stitch woke up to this and angrily scooted away from her to sleep next to Lilo when suddenly he smelled earthling's nose twitched, and his ears perked up. "Ahua shalom bye!" He greeted Lilo and poked her in the nose "We're in Yuna's house!" He reminded and Lilo sat up immediately. Stitch looked in the direction of the good smells not really hearing what Lilo said next.

"Oh right, we need to get out of here and start fixing our scooter... Stitch?!" She turned her head to see Stitch crawling towards the door "What are you doing?"

"Breakfast!" He cheered and opened the door a jar and smiled at the world outside the house that was immediately visible as he did so.

"We shouldn't! We've imposed on them enough, besides Hamsterviel is loose remember?" Lilo protested as she got put to follow Stitch anyway. She crept after him but still protested "Sitch..." she whined. They entered the living room and accidentally snuck to the breakfast table.

Stitch sat at a plate and picked up the chopsticks. He immediately played around with them, and Lilo laughed as he pretended to be a conductor pointing the sticks around. She sat on her own seat and a set up the dishes in a way so she could play them like a drum set.

Stitch continued to conduct as Lilo attempted to match the rhythm Stitch was trying to indicate, she failed epically at it so they switched roles. Lilo started conducting and Stitch set up a drum set.

At this point Obaa was getting a little bit suspicious about the noises she was hearing so she went into the dining room to investigate. Lilo and Stitch ducked and hid on instinct. She looked at the mismatched plates and shrugged, wondering if it she had made a mistake.

Obaa theorized that their guest had attempted to play a prank. She smiled at the antics of the children.

"Yuna! Lilo-and-Stitch! Breakfast!" She called and the two underneath the table remembered themselves. They popped out of the table and cheered, causing Grandma to stagger backward a ways "Goodness! How long have you two been there? My, Yuna wasn't kidding when she said you were a couple of rapscallions." She smiled sweetly at them and the pair took a moment to be ashamed.

Then they directed their attention to the food on the table and remembered how hungry they were. All other emotions vanished as the started to dig into the strange fruit provided on the table.

Yuna rushed out to breakfast only to find most of what was there had already been eaten by her house guests. "Hey! You can't do that it's rude! You shouldn't start eating before everyone else, and that was for all of us besides! What kind of houseguests are you?!"

"Uhm, really hungry ones?" Lilo suggested weakly as Stitch burped. She laughed weakly as Yuna started growl angrily at them under her breath, seemingly ready to attack at any moment. She got up to close to them, specifically Lilo and was about to go off on some kind of tangent although Yuna herself wasn't sure of what to say.

"Oh my, and here I thought you had a genuine chance at fulfilling your greatest wishes." She commented breaking the two up effectively.

"So that's what she was trying to tell us the other day." Lilo whispered to Stitch.  
>"Blackmail..." Stitch complained.<br>"It's not blackmail, if you do want to obtain the wish you have to be on your best behavior at all times."

"Why is she trying to bribe us with something that doesn't exist?" Lilo whispered again in the samemanner and Stitch giggled.

"She's nice kind of crazy" Stitch chuckled in English as the elder sat with them across the table. Yunajoined the laugh as well, albeit somewhat reluctantly with a glance at Lilo.

She was okay with Stitch who had been nothing but kind, if not in a troublesome way, but Lilo was a bit more prickly. She didn't seem as welcoming or openly warm as Stitch was. She was somewhat eccentric too, Yuna more easily accepted this with Stitch because he was an alien life-form. Lilo, on the other hand, was a little girl like her. Her eccentricity was harder to accept simply because of how alike she was.

Meanwhile, Lilo was too preoccupied to think much of Yuna. What little she did know of her was trifling information. Lilo thought Yuna was nice,as anyone who got along with Stitch had to be, she also respected how headstrong she was but it wasn't a trait Lilo particularly valued. In short, she was marginally unimpressed with the younger girl.

"Well, you may dig in now." Grandma set up the food and started to eat. Lilo and Stitch shared a gleeful look and started to pick up the food with their hands. Grandma slapped them away much to their surprise. "We do not do that here." She said simply and carelessly as if that simple reminder was enough for them. The two blinked and then looked at the chopsticks.

"Oh right, sorry. It's been a while since we've had a decent meal at a table like this. We've been... on the road." Lilo admitted and picked up hers. Stitch stared at his and reached for them. He realized quickly that he had forgotten how to use them so he started to fiddle around a bit with them. After a while he got the hang of it.

Lilo however did not. She reached for the fruit but it kept slipping through the chopsticks as she struggled to pick it up. She let out a frustrated groan, thinking about how at least a person didn't forget how to use forks. Lilo took one chopstick in each hand and speared the fruit on in swift downwards movement "Ta-da! Fruit kabob!" she displayed instead and Stitch applauded.

"That's not right!" Yuna protested as Lilo nibbled all the fruit off the sticks hungrily. She took Lilo's hands and tutored her "Look, you hold them between your hands... like this." She adjusted the sticks and Lilo's fingers to make them more accurate "Than you pick up the fruit... and bring it to your mouth like this!" She made the movements for Lilo controlling her hand carefully and then dropped the fruit.

The round piece of food plopped into Yuna's mouth, the little girl shut her mouth to catch it, chewed, swallowed and made a satisfied humming noise. Obaa started giggling at what she thought to be an adorable sight. She had wished for Yuna to have a close friend, perhaps Lilo could be that for her. Obaa wondered where Lilo's folks were and whether or not she could meet them anytime soon.

Lilo picked up the chopsticks and tried to do as Yuna had shown her. She almost lifted it up but it slipped through again. It was farther then she got on her own.

"There you go, you got it!" She encouraged and by the second try Lilo managed to get it halfway to her mouth "Almost there." She pushed on. Lilo tried it again and got it right that time. She smiled and chewed the fruit happily. "Nice! Good job." She cheered for Lilo, who started putting about half the fruit into her own rice bowl. "Hey what are you doing? Don't take all the food now!"

"Yuga had your chance." Stitch joined in and started to rapidly shoot food straight into his mouth with the chopsticks.

"What did we just talk about? Do you think the world is all about you or something? Why are you both so selfish?!" Yuna got up and glared directly at Stitch who mocked her by sticking out his tongue at her. She growled and started chasing him around the table in circles. Stitch was clearly enjoying it but Yuna looked rather annoyed.

"Thank you, spirits, for this wonderful meal." Grandmother prayed serenely as Lilo took her attention off of Stitch.

"Speaking of thanks. Thank you for letting us stay the night... and for the clothes, and for washing my jumpsuit... and for the food! But we really must get going now, we're sort of in the middle of trying to save the universe." Lilo bowed her head as best she could in thanks. Grandmother merely nodded her head at the oddities.

"It was no problem, dear. Drop back in at any time." She smiled sweetly at her and Stitch rushed back into his seat as Yuna stopped as she realized what was going on.

"You're leaving? Already?" She asked feeling disheartened, wondering if they meant they were going back to space.

"Well, like I said we have an alien invasion to stop." Lilo got up and bowed again "Thank you for everything. As soon as I change, we'll be out of your hair." She looked at Stitch expectantly who got up and followed her.

"It's no bother, we were happy to have you." Obaa reiterated for the two adolescents. "Wait! If you're going to fight evil why don't you stop by my dojo to train first?"

"We really-" Lilo tried to excuse but her sibling had already jumped on board with this idea.

"Okie-takka!" Stitch cheered with a jump and Lilo sighed. It seemed Stitch was far more eager to make friends then she was all of a sudden.

The three children sat in a ring on the dojo floor, all now changed into their martial art's clothes.

"Since you two have some behavioral problems, karate can help you learn discipline as a bonus." Yuna declared happily and got up off the floor.

"I don't see the point of this - karate is a sport. It has no REAL application in combat." Lilo seemed bored and merely rested her chin on her hands.

"It teaches discipline and strength! What does whatever form of combat you were using teach?" Yuna challenged staring down at her.

"A lot of things. Namely, the safety of the galaxy is top priority." Lilo shrugged casually, her form of combat was actually a complicated mix of what her cousin Trainer and Kixx had taught her from time to time, combined with the multiple schools of martial arts she and Stitch had visited on their runaway road trip. "For example; not wasting time on Karate lessons when we should be tracking down Hamsterviel." Her tone turned serious as she groaned.

"Aww, Lilo. That ika-patookie hasn't done anything yet. We have time!" Stitch cheered light-heartedly he got up and attempted to bow, only to fall over on his head. "Uhm... Stitch... meant to do that! Yeah! Happy break-dance!" he spun around on his head until he was a tornado that actually generated wind. he pushed himself up and landed back on his feet. Lilo applauded as Yuna started in amazement. "Thank you very much!" He mimicked Elvis slightly, which was difficult since he was saying this in Japanese.

"See? We don't really need these classes." Lilo pointed out and Yuna glowered at her, "I think we should get going now."

"You think so huh?! Then fight me... honorably this time!" Yuna took a stance and Lilo got up with a little more determination renewed in her eyes.

"Technically, I was fighting honorably. Feints are a legitimate move in martial arts, aren't they?" Lilo took her stance as well. The stance was basically from a rather mixed form that she had mashed together from learning kick boxing, Jiu Jitsu and an alien rite similar to Aikido or Judo.

"You attacked before I was ready! You didn't give any signal at all!" Yuna protested as they started to circle each other.

"I thought you were a threat! You don't wait until a signal is given when you're up against a dangerous intergalactic criminal!" Lilo protested as Yuna grew more irked.

"But I am a HUMAN GIRL! Not a criminal!" Yuna screeched and Lilo looked embarrassed at this. Although she even laughed a little at the irony.

Stitch merely watched as the two bantered back in forth in front of him. "Is it so wrong? Meega just wanted to learn cool karate-master moves!" He sighed and shook his head at the girls who had started to attack each other.

"Good Morning Yuna! What the-?" The students walked up to and entered the building to find Yuna fighting Lilo. Yuna's attacked were precise, disciplined and methodological, while Lilo was agile,graceful, and flexible. They were water and fire, wind and earth, up against each other like equally opposing forces. They watched in amazement as Stitch stared at them.

Eventually he decided to talk to them "Aloha! Meega Stitch! Who are you?" he asked causing them to flinch backwards and gape at him.

"Yuna, what is that thing!? Is this the blue monster that was attacking the town the other day?!" Taro screeched and hid behind Officer Suzuki.

"Meega not monster - Meega fluffy!" Stitch protested cheerfully but weakly, he looked nervously at Lilo, "Uh, forgot to mention - may have cause lot of collateral yesterday."

"That's okay. I screwed up in the factory so we're pretty much even." Lilo nodded with some embarrassment of her own.

"That's why you both need to be here." Yuna asserted "Come on, you can participate in today's session." She assured and soon they were sitting around in what seemed to be the usual order of things.

"We always begin by reciting the principles of the dojo." Yuna told them, "Officer Suzuki, start us off with the core principles."

"First, always defend the weak!"

"Next, Taro!"

"Second, love everyone even the bad people!" Taro couldn't help his eyes from going to the intimidatingpeople beside him as he said this, he clenched his teeth nervously as Lilo seemed to notice.

"And the last one altogether!"

"Finally, Ichariba choodee!"

"Meet once, family forever!" Yuna simplified for them, "Lilo and Stitch, do you promise to be generous to others, and be unselfish always?"

"Emba-chua! We'll do that." Stitch heartedly agreed and Lilo merely nodded with a slight eye-roll.

"... and you'll treat everyone like family by doing all your good deeds for them?"

"Wait a minute, where'd this come from?" Lilo narrowed her eyes at the other girl skeptically, wonderingwhat was going on with this good-deed nonsense.

"Just say Okie-takka, Lilo. We'll do it!" Stitch tugged at her sleeve.

"Okie-takka, then." She sighed.

"Alright, that's a yes. Let's start with some warm up exercises!"

"Man, being the only mailman on the island sure is hard work. So busy, busy, busy!" The mailman walked up to the dojo "Letter for Yuna Kamihara!" The mailman called in.

"Good Morning, Mr Honda!"

"Good Morning, my goodness you're all sure working hard. The only one who could be more busy than me on the island would be you. I have a letter for you."

"Thank you." Yuna accepted it without looking and went on his way.

"Have a nice day, Yuna."

"You too." She called and waved back as she looked down at her card, she stared at it for a moment andStitch popped his head out to check on Yuna. "It's... it's from my dad." She stated.

"Dad? Eegalagoo! How butifa!" He celebrated for her "Must be nice to hear ... huh? Yuna?" He suddenlyrealized how downcast she was about it. Yuna sat at the edge of the patio and read the letter. Stitch watched helplessly, and curiously. Lilo poked her head out of the dojo at this point to see what the fuss was.

"My father has abandoned me." She moped as Lilo walked over to her.

"That's not true," Lilo sat down next to her and Stitch took the other side. "He's your O'hana, your family - and family means nobody get's left behind or forgotten." She recited their motto meaningfully with a soft voice. There was a sudden kindness in her eyes.

"Running away from home naga count, by the way." Stitch enunciated to her, just as a measure.

"Where is your family anyway?" Yuna asked Lilo sadly but curiously.

"That's different." Lilo claimed strongly and gave Yuna a stern but seemed slightly embarrassed.

"They forgot you, too." Yuna accused angrily, and gripped at her arms, hugging herself closer to hercenter.

"Family NEVER forgets." Lilo put her arms on Yuna carefully and gave her a reluctant hug, Stitch joined inas well and it was a touching moment or a couple of seconds.

But only for that long, "Well he did! And since he forgot me, I'm going to forget him!" She tossed the card away and it flew far into the forest with breeze.

"It isn't all about you, Yuna!" Lilo protested with a growl. "You're being a childish brat!" She called out with a wave of her fist as Yuna walked away insensitively.

"Lilo, yuuga being big hypocrite." Stitch realized.

"Yeah, I know - but we ran away from home to the furthest reaches of the galaxy accidentally becoming wanted outlaws in the process. That's different!"

There was silence before Stitch stated dryly "That's worse."

"... I don't... I don't regret it though."

"Stitch neither, but feel sad for worrying Ohana?" "Of course! We're not some unfeeling freaks!"

"We would face them..." Stitch started to say slowly "... but it's just too..." Lilo continued

"Scary." They concluded together.

A little later….

"Everyone, this is Lilo and Stitch. They are very sorry for the mess they caused yesterday, and they promise to behave from now on. Please forgive them." Yuna explained and bowed apologetical.

"Please forgive us." Lilo chimed in and took a similar bow. Stitch merely nodded looking embarrassed.

"They're very odd, but they don't mean any harm. If Yuna thinks they're okay, then I'm sure we can trust them." The officer from the dojo nodded to the skeptic and angry civilians.

"I suppose we can forgive them, it did seem to be an accident after all." The lady running the fruit stand sighed.

"Thank you so much!" Lilo sighed in relief, and was about to turn away and leave.

"But it'll take all day to fix this mess!" The grocer continued and turned away.

"Don't worry! To make up for it, we're going to help you clean!" Yuna promised from a ways away and Lilocursed her out internally.

"R-right!" Lilo picked up some fruits and put them back in the boxes.

A space-buggy descended into the Earth's atmosphere, slowly and carefully in great contrast to the speed of Lilo and Stitch's scooter. Like a feather it landed gently on the island of Izayoi, in the middle of the Chitame forest, parked between two rocks. "Wow, it's almost as beautiful as Hawaii!"

"Yes, teeming with thousands of interesting and beautiful unique species…" Jumba surveyed the area, taking in the sight of the wildlife. He cackled maniacally "For dissection!"

Before Pleakley could even roll his eye, a small flying insect wove it's way through the air in front of him "Ooh, a new type of mosquito! Good thing I packed extra blood." He cast a glance back at their vehicle as if wondering if he should go retrieve it.

Jumba rolled his eyes and cloaked the buggy, "Worrying about Pleakley's bodily fluids and island wildlifecomes much later. We must find Lilo and Stitch first."

Of course!" Pleakley agreed and then seemed to get angry at the air." When I get my hands on those two little monsters I will -"

"You'll what?" A kindly old lady walking towards them asked as she looked straight through them. Pleakleyjumped into Jumba's arms in fear, bridal style. The grandmother only kept staring with her eyes closed without much surprise to this reaction. "May I be of any assistance?" She asked kindly and the two Hawaiians exchanged a look.

"Yes, please. Have... have you seen these two?" Jumba put Pleakley down and the latter took out a picture. Grandmother took a look at the picture and couldn't help but looked mildly surprised, but pleasantly nonetheless.

It was a picture of Lilo and Stitch, although both somehow appeared a few years younger (she wasn't sure why Sitch seemed younger, maybe her mind was playing tricks) but it was obviously them. Lilo was wearing a mu-mu with the same pattern that was on her jumpsuit. Stitch looked mostly the same except the tiki charm he wore was attached to a dog collar instead of a chain necklace back then.

"Yes, I've seen them. Sweet children, they are." She confirmed with a casual smile.

"Oh perfect! At last! Do you know where they are?" The plorganarian cheered loudly and hugged Jumba before looking eagerly at the elderly native.

"They're off with my granddaughter, Yuna, somewhere on the island. They said they were going to the dojo but practice should be over now. Although if they have nowhere else to go, I'm sure they'll be back at my place by the end of the day." Obaa explained at a slow rate.

"Ah, thank you so much." Jumba sighed in relief, trying to put his unease to rest.

"Would you like to join me for some tea in the meantime?" Obaa asked and Jumba was about to protest.

"Would we ever!" Pleakley responded pushing him out of the way "I've always wanted to go to an authenticEarth Japanese tea social gathering! Ooh, I am not dressed for this!"

"Hey... Lilo" Yuna asked, "Do you…" She had to stop and think about what it was she actually wanted to ask. "You're just an ordinary Earth girl, like me aren't you?" she caught Lilo's attention quite suddenly and the other girl turn around gracefully from where she was setting up some boxes. Stitch was off doing his own thing in the background.

"As ordinary as I can be considering half my family is made up of extraterrestrials. Why?" Lilo mentioned as she straightened the crates. Stitch juggled some fruit while rolling on a watermelon in the background.

"Oh, just curious. Your family is part alien?" Yuna jerked back in shock when she comprehended what was being said by the other girl. Stitch in the meanwhile had moved on to stacking empty crates in the background.

"Yeah - Stitch's side basically." Lilo commented and looked over at him as he was about to knock a box tower over. Stitch noticed Lilo and Yuna looking so he sheepishly stepped away and withdrew himself. He quickly unstacked the boxes as Yuna started to speak. Lilo interrupted with "Long story short - I adopted him thinking he was a dog."

"All finished. What about you slowpokes?" Stitch boasted and the two looked out to see the streets mostly clean.

"Wow, neat work! Thanks Stitch!" Lilo commented, and the blue not-a-dog started to pick up some fruit and sink his teeth into them.

"Hey! You can't do that!" Yuna protested as Stitch finished off a pear.

"Why not? Is reward for helping!" Stitch spat out the seeds into the ground.

"You're helping to make up for causing the mess in the first place!" Yuna criticized and lectured "You tworeally are selfish aren't you?"

They hung their heads and apologized but Yuna had already stormed away.

"The past year caught up to me." Lilo remarked, looking like she was about to cry "Want to find a dark,desolate, corner to be utterly miserable in?"

"Ih!" Stitch moaned, and dropped to the floor.

"I almost wish Jumba and Pleakley, or Nani were here so we could apologize." She lamented to the sky,when suddenly out of the blue the postcard fluttered down out of it.

"Father..." Stitch muttered "Ohana..."  
>"Do you know what this means?"<br>"Ih!"

"Good deed time!" They chorused together. They weren't after the wish though, they were after redemption.

"Here we are, make yourselves comfortable. I'll put the kettle on."

Obaa commented peacefully and went into the kitchen. Yuna usually greeted her at the door to let her know she was already home, but there was delay this time.

Yuna walked out of her room feeling upset and flustered. Mostly over her father not being home in time, but also because her new friends weren't exactly the most straight-forward people to deal with.

She went out onto the porch only to find two terrifying strangers there. They seemed to be aliens just like Stitch (not just like him, but aliens nonetheless), and having been warned of an alien invasion she didn't hesitate to take action.

"Hey! What are you doing in my house?" She questioned and emphasized her fighting stance.

The smaller one-eyed one clung to the other and let out a somewhat girly screech of fear. "Well? Are you aliens? Are you here to invade?!" Yuna ignored this outburst, her face tensing up further.

"What!? No! We are being peaceful aliens!" Jumba assured, and at that moment Lilo and Stitch came rushing back to the house, Lilo waving the letter and Stitch holding a bouquet of make-shift leis.

They stoppedimmediately when they recognized the voice and the figures in the distance. Their two relatives turned and noticed them. There was dead and cold silence.

"Should we be running towards them, or away from them?" Lilo asked feeling conflicted, Stitch shrugged as he struggled internally as well. After a couple of seconds they couldn't take it anymore and ran to their family members.

"Lilo!" "Stitch!" "626" "Jumba!" "Pleakley!" "Little Monster" "Little Girl!" The reunited family chorused and they all exchanged warm embraces momentarily forgetting anything happened.

"Wait! You know each other?" Yuna looked between their smiling faces, feeling left out.

"Uh... yeah. They're Ohana." Lilo explained anxiously as she and Stitch backed away from their relatives.

"I hope you like the tea, it's so rare that we have guests over." Obaa chose this moment to walk in of all possible times.

"Guests?! Ohana?!" Yuna bowed quickly "I'm sorry! I've been rude haven't I?" She pieced it all together feeling guilty.

"And you two... What ever happened to "nobody get's left behind or forgotten?" huh?! Huh!? You both ran away leaving us behind AND forgetting all about us!" Pleakley started to lecture to them angrily.

"No we weren't! We left you but we didn't leave you behind! And we most CERTAINLY did NOT forget about you!" Lilo defended and Stitch nodded to back her up..

"Uhm, can I introduce myself before the fighting begins?" Yuna asked shyly.

"Of course little one," Jumba bent down to her "Go ahead." He nodded kindly. Yuna smiled up at him thinking him to be a kindly man.

"My name's Yuna, and I'm a friend of Lilo and Stitch." She bowed "Nice to meet you."

"Aww!" The noodle-alien clasped his hands together at the sight of her "Hi, I'm Agent Wendy Pleakey, this is Jumba-" Pleakley started to introduce but was cut off.

"Evil genius scientist!" He proclaimed, taking the spotlight, blocking Pleakley from Yuna and Obaa's view. "-and we're Lilo and Stitch's Ohana!" He finished slightly annoyed, pushing himself back into the view.

"Oh? How are you related? I mean, you don't look like their parents." Yuna looked between the four, she didn't think any of them were the same species.

"We're more adoptive, really. As a disguise, I'm their aunt and Jumba's the uncle.

… However in reality I'm a good friend of Jumba's and Jumba is Stitch's creator." He explained with a nod to Jumba, and almost a bit of a wink present in his voice.

"In a way is child of my brain and genius." He boasted in continuation.

"YOU MADE HIM?! HOW?!" Yuna realized and looked between Jumba and Stitch trying to work out how that even worked. Her Obaa chuckled from the corner.

"Oh yes, I made him, I JOOKIBA! Creator of the most dangerous, destructive and powerful creatures in the galaxy through illegal genetic experimentation. The most successful of which is 6-2-6;

a raging ball of furious destruction, singlehandedly capable of planet-destroying mayhem enough to bring an entire empire to it's knees in a matter of hours, AND is unleashed on this island at this very moment!"

"MWA HA HA HA HA HA HA H AH AH!" He ranted looking evil and insane beyond what Yuna had previously seen of him.

"Juuummmmbaaa!" Lilo and Stitch whined simultaneously at him, and Pleakley gave the madman a stern and angered look.

"What? Please to be letting your old man have his fun." Jumba calmed down fussily with a huff.

"What?! Why? What's going on!? If that thing's on the island we have to stop it before it hurts somebody! We can't just sit idly by while... " She looked around.

"Why is everyone staring at me like that?" Everyone's tried and bugged look was now directed onto Yuna as she panicked, they then turned it back to Jumba.

"See what you did Jumba? You went and scared the girl for nothing!" The skinny life-form gestured to the girl who looked very confused.

"Oh - I see, so you made that up then?" Yuna smiled nervously "That's not exactly funny." She realized nobody else was laughing either.

"Uh, no... everything mentioned in evil rant is one hundred percent true." Jumba scoffed awkwardly at the Japanese Earth girl.

"Meega 626, Yuna." Stitch admitted flatly.

"Oh... ah... Okay." She stated in a daze and shook her head. Obaa noticed the postcard in Lilo's hand and gasped.

"Anyway, Yuna... Look!" Lilo gave the post-card to her and Yuna's eyes widened as she angrily huffed, clenching her teeth tightly with a growl. She turned away and rejected Lilo. "It's your Ohana! Come on!"

"Ohana does not include people who BREAK PROMISES!" Yuna announced bitterly. "Mind your own business, Lilo. Your relatives are here, go home with them and leave me alone!"

"YUNA." Grandmother scolded sternly from where she was sitting. "Lilo brought the post-card to you because she wanted to help - like good friends do."

"Ih." Stitch agreed and put a lei over Yuna's neck.

"Thank you, Stitch." She murmured through the tears that were bursting through her shut eyes. "Thank you, Lilo." She added.

"Congratulations you two, you did a good deed." Obaa smiled warmly at them, but she was ignored as the family reunion resumed with tears and fighting. "Hmm, strange. Something tells me they don't need that wish, after all."

The family in her living room, meanwhile were crying - everybody all of them. Both tears of joy and sadness simultaneously. It was actually somewhat of a beautiful sight.


End file.
